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Bridgewater's Joe Lauzon prepares for first UFC fight in nearly a year

Joe Lauzon

Bridgwater based lightweight Joe Lauzon battling in the UFC octagon with Jamie Varner in 2012 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Lauzon won the fight by submission in the third round with a triangle choke.
(Joe Lauzon/Team Lauzon)

BOSTON — When UFC lightweight Joe Lauzon steps into the octagon on Friday to face off against Ultimate Fighter winner Michael Chiesa he'll be coming off one of the biggest fights of his life and, no, I don't mean his unanimous decision win against Mac Danzig last December.

Lauzon has been away from UFC for months caring for his newborn son Joey as he battled a rare form of cancer.

Lauzon's son was born in January with a cancerous tumor in his back the size of the fists he uses to ply his trade. The size of the tumor alarmed doctors so much that they were concerned Lauzon's son would suffer permanent spine damage and started the newborn on chemo-therapy immediately.

Joey would have become the focus of Lauzon's life no matter what but the cancer diagnosis changed everything for him to the point that he was not even sure he would fight again.

Seven months into Joey's battle with cancer the Lauzon family got the news they were waiting to hear: the tumor was gone.

"He’s made a great recovery. On July 3 we got the report of NED: no evidence of disease. He’ll be getting a party every July 3 for the rest of his life We’re so thankful, that was such a big day for us as his birthday wasn’t the best," said Lauzon during a telephone interview.

Lauzon said his son's battle with cancer and his triumph over it was an inspiration to him.

"If a 5-to-6 month-old baby can beat caner I feel like I can beat anything. To see a little tiny baby do all that it kind of puts it into perspective. No matter how much something sucks it doesn’t matter because of what he went through," said Lauzon.

Lauzon said he is channeling his motivation from his son's battle with cancer into his next fight while taking advantage of what he has learned from past "hometown" fights.

The Bridgewater-based Lauzon has changed up his entire pre-fight strategy since he last fought within driving distance of his hometown when he was beaten badly by Michael Johnson at Boston's TD Garden in 2013.

"I struggled against Michael Johnson and he’s very, very good. I didn’t snap too," said Lauzon.

Lauzon concluded that one of the reasons he lost the fight was the change in his pre-fight routine.

"There’s a lot of things that happen during fight week: I get packed, I get ready, I find a grocery store. There's a routine that kicks in when you're on the road. The second fight in Boston wasn’t like that. It was too familiar. I was working out at my own gym, I wasn’t working out to find places. It was too familiar," said Lauzon.

Lauzon has spent the week at Foxwoods training and preparing for his bout on the UFC Fight Night 50 card against Chiesa.

"We’re going to stay all week long, do everything we would normally do before a fight on the road," said Lauzon.

Lauzon (23-9) is in for a battle against Chiesa (11-1 ) as the former Ultimate Fighter: Live champion is a grappler just like Lauzon and seen by many as an up and comer in UFC.

Chiesa has an edge over Lauzon in terms of size and has a tendency to submit fighters with a rear naked choke. The ranked Lauzon said he respects Chiesa but is not intimidated by him.

"I think that I’ve got a lot more fight than him, I’ve got a lot more experience than him. I have to overcome his length and his luck a little bit but in the end it's not luck it's being prepared," said Lauzon.

Given that both fighters are grapplers and known as submission artists Lauzon expects the fight to go the ground quickly. Lauzon has won 18 of his 23 fights by submission.

"My strengths generally lie in getting people to the ground. I am not trying to get into a rock-em sock-em robots fight with people. He’s so long, he’s going to try to keep me away with his punches," said Lauzon.